Jealousy* (n.): resentment against a rival, a person enjoying success or advantage, etc., or against another's success or advantage itself.
Pride (n.): a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.
*We decided to try something other than m-w.com, so tonight's definitions are courtesy of dictionary.com.
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Hank Borowy went 11-2 with a 171 ERA+ for the Cubs after they bought him from the Yankees for $97,000 in July 1945 |
As many of you know, I live in lower Manhattan. I say "many of you know" because I imagine only about a dozen readers, knowing most of you personally. So, as you know, I'm surrounded by Yankee fans, even married to one. They don't like that I'm rooting for the Rangers. What's the appropriate response to them? Is "bafangoo" good?
Because of my neighbors, local media, and spouse, I have intimate knowledge of the angst Yankee fans feel when their team isn't winning. It is with a palpable disbelief and disgust that these fans react to the lead the Rangers have taken. Let's ignore the fact that the Rangers have been pummeling the Yankees. If it weren't for a complete R-Wash and bullpen meltdown in Game 1, the Yankees would have been swept. We sit here, as the teams board planes for Dallas to play a Game 6, exposed to the real 'Pride of the Yankees'.
Lou Gehrig is the Iron Horse, a truly amazing story. These days, team pride, winning, even mystique and aura, make up the fabric of real Yankee pride. A high opinion of one's importance and superiority comes with 27 world championships. Where is the tipping point for the fans who have an inordinate amount of pride? Probably somewhere around five championships in the past fifteen years.
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Let's sign Lee, Beltre, Werth, Crawford and win a couple more of these. |
People hate the Yankees, but they'd love their team to BE the Yankees. Who wouldn't want a team that competes EVERY SEASON? Maybe a communist, but even communists make great baseball teams. Just ask Yunesky Maya what it's like to play for Fidel.
Sorry for doing this, but I must take you on tangents with me. Are we even talking about real "pride"? There are good attributes to being proud. Probably more than negative. Perhaps, we're talking more about a sense of entitlement. I mean, there are other forms of pride that don't result in resentment, jealousy, and hate. For example, how about this piece from our favorite writer, Joe Posnanski... It is a piece on then Royals' manager Tony Pena... He has unmistakable pride, but I couldn't imagine hating on it...
Tony Pena drove slowly on the bumpy dirt road, past banana trees. "Juan Marichal lived not so far away," he said softly. But his mind drifted elsewhere. He was quiet again. He could not stop looking at the trees.
"People don't know how heavy bananas are," he finally said. "You drag them and drag them until you cannot move. People don't know. Your whole body hurts. You can't even sleep at night because your whole body hurts."
Pena said he has never lived a day — not a single day as player or coach or manager — when he did not think about what might have been. He imagined himself pulling bananas, the way all his friends, all his loved ones, everyone he grew up knowing, ended up pulling bananas."
People in the Dominican are so happy," he said. "That's what I love about my country. People are so poor. They have no money. They live in these little houses. Everybody thinks they must be very sad. But they are not. They are so happy."
He cried again. And he drove over a ditch into a little town. In the center of town, there was a dirt field. Children played baseball.
"Look," he said. "My country."I mean, sh*t man. That's pride, too. To digress, I have to go back and look at elements of the definitions. These are the parts of the definitions that I think are at the root of Yankee fandom.
Pride: "an inordinate opinion of one's superiority"
Jealousy: "resentment against a rival's advantage"
Jealousy obviously comes from wanting what someone else has. It's a natural feeling. It's only a sin to covet thy neighbor's wife; it's okay to covet their car, yard, pool, deck, grill, windows, satellite package, Spanish style roof, or the way they seem to always win. Sure, you could be a better person and simply admire them, but isn't it just easier - and more satisfying - to be jealous of them. If they have some sort of unfair advantage, then forget it. Jealousy is almost a necessity.
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"Nobody likes you, Pavano!" |
That's it. That's capitalism, the American way. We want to Win. Baseball fans, sports fans, business people, are the same: they want to win. Unless your ballpark hosts a daily cocktail party, with bikini drenched sunbathing in the bleachers, cough ahhemCubs cough, you're going to want to win.
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So, you still don't think people hate the Yankees and Cowboys? |
bottom line, you're just a fan, rooting for a perpetual loser with a decent sized payroll in its own right, (who overpayed for soriano and zambrano to name a few) that's simply hating on the yankees. no denying money factors in, but the twin, cardinals and a's have proved that money isn't everything. good management and positive circumstances(aka luck) dictate success.
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